Full Tilt RICO Suit Dismissed

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Leonard B. Sand dismissed the class action law suit which included claims filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against individual defendants and companies that make up Full Tilt Poker.

The suit, filed back in July, was brought by known poker professional Todd Terry, Nick Hammer, Steve Segal and Robin Hougdahl on behalf of a “nation-wide class of plaintiffs.” With the suit the plaintiffs were “seeking recovery of the approximately $150 million they claimed was locked up in the online player accounts they no longer could access.” The suit alleged that players “suffered injury” due to the defendants “widespread scheme to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering.”

However, according to Sand, “At this stage in the litigation it remains unclear whether the direct cause of Plaintiffs’ injuries was the decision by the U.S. Attorney’s office to temporarily shut down the Full Tilt Poker website and seize the company’s assets or was instead, as Plaintiffs’ conversion allegations suggest, the subsequent decision by one or more of the Defendants to halt player withdrawals from the Full Tilt Poker website.”

“What is clear,” Sands stated, “is that in neither case was the direct cause of the injuries the racketeering offenses alleged in the complaint.”

As a result, the motions to dismiss all claims against Juanda, Lederer, Ferguson, Traniello, Lindgren, Seidel, Bloch, Matusow, Cunningham, and Ivy were granted. In addition, the motion to dismiss conversion claims against Tiltware and Pocket Kings Consulting were also granted.